01
In any situation, there is what we want to happen, and there is what needs to be done. Sometimes, what we want to happen is what needs to be done. Sometimes, not. The most important thing in any situation is what needs to be done. Growing up is setting aside what we want to happen in favor of what needs to be done. What we want has no necessary connection with what we need to do. Maturation is intentionally, willingly, putting ourselves in right relation to what needs to be done. "This is the way things are, and this is what can be done about it, and that's that." Maturation is sizing up our situation, putting ourselves in accord with what needs to be done there and doing it. Growing up some more again is the solution to all of our problems today. Every day. We disappear problems like that (snaps fingers) when we "get up and do what needs to be done." What is your life asking of you that you do not want to do? What needs to be done that you do not want to do? It does not matter what we want! It matters that we do what needs to be done, when it needs to be done, the way it needs to be done. Making our peace with that-- and doing it-- is the key to the quality/ease of the rest of our life. My favorite definition of health, mental or physical, is "ease of functioning." When we inhibit our own ease of functioning by wanting what we want and now what we ought to want-- not what the situation is calling us to want (or to do whether we want to or not)-- we work against our own health, mental or physical. Whose side are we on? That is the question we have to answer in every situation where what we want is clashing with what needs to happen. In those situations, we are being asked to do what needs to be done, whether we want to or not. Get that down and we have it made.
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02
All of my regrets, and there be many, stem from a lack of experience. I did not know what I was doing. We are going to fall a lot learning to walk, ride a bicycle, roller/ice skate, snow/water ski... We are going to fall a lot waiting for experience to kick in. Until it does, it helps for us to say out loud, to ourselves and anyone who may be listening, "I'm just waiting for experience to kick in." Until it does, we are at the mercy of luck and timing-- and if the time is not right, it doesn't matter how much experience we have. Experience that does not take timing into account isn't enough experience. Enough experience takes everything into account. And how old do we have to be in order for that to happen? This is my 77th July, and it hasn't happened yet. I regret things I did yesterday because I failed to take everything into account-- which would have helped with knowing when to speak and when to remain silent. I'm still waiting for experience to kick in. But, I'm doing better than I once did. Mostly because I don't get as many opportunities to screw up these days. Which is a big plus with aging.
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03
Energy transforms itself into matter by using matter to make more matter. Where did energy and the first matter come from? Same place God came from. All of the first stuff is co-existent from the start. It has always been. And always will be. The universe/cosmos has always been coming and going. That is one of the things we have to take on faith. Energy uses matter to make more matter by taking a proton and hurling it at another proton, causing the protons to explode. When a proton explodes-- correct me if I'm wrong-- it doesn't explode into fragments. It explodes into protons. Energy flies around creating matter like this. Protons, when they aren't smashing into protons, are attracting companions and setting up house, and before we know it, here we are. All it took was a little time. Anything can happen with enough time. It's the old joke about if you put a group of monkeys in a room with typewriters they will eventually write Hamlet. That is exactly what happened. Only the monkeys had to create a relative that created human beings that invented typewriters and produced Shakespeare. With enough time, anything can happen. All it takes is time and energy and two protons.
It sounds so easy, and sometimes is bit when I get trapped in wanting what I want, I could care less about what needs to be done! I want to go back to bed. There is a pallet of mulch bags that need to be spread out. Guess I am going to do that but I sure don’t have that positive,”yea” attitude about it. Going to work on being joyful about what needs to be done so I am not angry at having to do it all day… no fun in doing what needs to be done if we aren’t happy about it! Thanks, Jim…
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The old Taoists recommend having no opinion about anything. That is, not wanting anything. “Have only preferences, not desires,” would be their advice. “Don’t push the river.” “Be a cork on the water.” “Let come what’s coming and let go what’s going.” Are about standing apart from our circumstances, and knowing what can and cannot be done about them, what is and is not helpful, what is prudent and what is imprudent, and going with what has the best chance for the best outcome, all things considered. “Chop wood, carry water, spread mulch…” enable us to “eat when hungry, rest when tired.” And having not much at stake and not much in the way of opinions in much of anything, helps maintain our balance and harmony through most of what comes our way.
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